


Man in a Can

by JinxQuickfoot



Series: Whumptoberverse [4]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Buried Alive, Day 4, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Kidnapped Peter Parker, Kidnapping, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Peter Parker Whump, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:13:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26494669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JinxQuickfoot/pseuds/JinxQuickfoot
Summary: Peter could hear the voices floating down to him, muffled by the floorboards nailed into place above his head and cemented over with the industrial strength tiles that made up Tony’s workshop floor. The last thing he had remembered was a dark figure appearing over him in bed, then he had woken up here, groggy and exhausted and unable to move.Unable to move because whoever had grabbed him had covered him in concrete from toes to mouth, repaired Tony’s floor, and left him there.----------------------------------------------------------------------------When Peter goes missing, Tony and the Avengers team search everywhere for him. Little do they know that Peter is a lot closer than they think.
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark
Series: Whumptoberverse [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1921831
Comments: 80
Kudos: 478
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Whumptober 2020 Day 4
> 
> Prompt: Buried Alive
> 
> Relationship: Tony & Rhodey
> 
> TWs: buried, buried alive, tight spaces 
> 
> Can be read as a standalone but does reference events that occurred in the past three fics and sets up a couple of plot points for future fics in the Whumptoberverse. Also in this AU, the events of Spider-man: Homecoming still happened, except Peter did join the Avengers and Tony and Pepper aren’t back together.

“I don’t understand. How could he have left the Compound without _leaving the Compound?”_

“Tony, I know this is hard, but you need to -”

“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down right now, Rogers.”

“I know this is serious, Tones, but Steve is just trying to help. We all are.”

“You want to help? Get off your asses and do something instead of telling me to be calm when a sixteen-year-old who is meant to under our care has apparently vanished off the face of the earth. Which, given all the shit we’ve seen, is an actual possibility.”

Peter could hear the voices floating down to him, muffled by the floorboards nailed into place above his head and cemented over with the industrial-strength tiles that made up Tony’s workshop floor. He didn’t know how whoever had torn them apart and put them back had done so without any of the Avengers noticing. He didn’t know how the same person had grabbed him from bed in the middle of the night without setting off his danger sense, or how they had found a drug that had kept him under long enough to drag him down here. Or at least, he assumed they had dragged him down here. He had been unconscious for that part. The last thing he had remembered was a dark figure appearing over him in bed, then he had woken up here, groggy and exhausted and unable to move.

Unable to move because whoever had grabbed him had covered him in concrete from toes to mouth, repaired Tony’s floor, and left him there.

The concrete must have set long before he had woken up, because there was absolutely no give as he struggled to shift it. Whether or not his strength would lend itself to breaking through it was irrelevant; he was immobilized in such a way that he had no leverage to even try. It hadn’t taken him longer than ten minutes to realize he was utterly, helplessly trapped.

As he drew in quick breaths through his nose, unable to open his mouth, he realized that hyperventilation was not the smartest route to go down. He didn’t know how much air he had down here. Instead, he centered on one of the mental exercises May was always using when things got stressful at work. _What are the facts? What can I control?_

Facts. He was in a high tech compound surrounded by superheroes and Tony Stark’s technology. It wouldn’t be long until someone discovered he was missing and started looking for him. Despite Peter’s various attempts, he had never managed to quite get out from under F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s eye since the Homecoming incident, although he was trying very hard _not_ to think about everything that had happened with Toomes right now. Being trapped under a collapsed warehouse was far too close to his current situation for comfort, which brought him to the next part of the mental exercise. 

Control. _Nothing,_ had been Peter’s first thought before he quickly amended. _My breathing,_ he corrected himself. _I can control my breathing,_ difficult as it was with the concrete weighing down on him. He’d just keep doing that until one of the Avengers found him. And they would find him, he was sure of that.

The conversation happening right above his head started up again.

“Tony, listen to me. We’ll find him, ok? I promise. I know what he means to you - to all of us.”

“To all of you? You didn’t even want him to be here, Rogers.”

Peter inhaled sharply through his nose. What the hell did _that_ mean? He’d been living part-time at the Compound for nearly six months, splitting his time between school in Queens and Avengers training upstate. Despite Tony and Steve’s lingering anger and resentments, and once the awkwardness of what had happened in Germany had lifted, Steve had seemed to like Peter. Or at least, Peter had thought he did.

They had clashed in the beginning. Peter had always been a smart kid surrounded by adults who treated him like he wasn’t, with the exception of his guardians. The Avengers had a no-politics talk policy within the Compound while tensions eased off, but Peter had opinions and they slipped through now and again.

But as the months passed and Peter spent more time with the super-soldier, first in training, then on missions, and then in the social areas of the Compound, Peter found that he had come to like Steve too. And they disagreed, sure, but Ben had drilled manners into Peter even before his parents had died, and so such disagreements turned more into structured debates. And once Steve had gotten over the shock and guilt of taking on a fifteen-year-old and dropping a gangway on his head, Peter found that Steve actually listened to him. Which, if he was being honest, was more than he could say of Tony sometimes. 

“Steve, I know you’re trying help, and so does Tony. But maybe it’s better if you leave. Ok?”

There was a pregnant pause. “Ok,” Steve relented. “We’ll be sweeping the streets - whoever took Peter couldn’t have gotten far. Call me if anything changes.”

“We will.”

“Tony?”

When Tony didn’t answer, Rhodey repeated, “We will.”

There was another heavy pause, then the sound of footsteps retreating from the workshop.

“Hey, Peter’s a tough kid. He’s going to be ok.”

“You can’t know that.”

“Ok, no, I can’t. But focusing on the worst-case scenario isn’t going to help.”

“I just…I need to find him. I will find him. F.R.I.D.A.Y.? Run that scan again.”

“Tony, we’ve been through this -”

F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s voice interrupted Rhodey’s. _“My scans show no evidence that Mr Parker has left the Compound in the past four hours. He was last seen in his private quarters.”_

Four hours? He had been down here _four hours?_

“And there’s no evidence of him anywhere in the Compound during that time?”

_“No, Boss.”_

_Because I’m down here,_ Peter thought desperately, as though he could use telepathy to force the words straight into Tony’s head. _I’m not_ in _the Compound. I’m_ beneath _the Compound._

“What’s everyone doing?” he heard Tony demand. “Status update.”

“Sam’s in the air, doing a sweep over the city. Nat and Clint are underground, hunting down every contact they know. Hill’s got every S.H.I.E.L.D. resource she can spare on this. Cho’s in med bay preparing…” Rhodey hesitated before he pressed on. “Preparing Peter’s pain meds, and anything else he might need. Just in case. Doesn’t mean he’s going to need them.”

“What about tiny man? He’s around sometimes, must be useful in some way.”

“Scott’s got his own contacts.”

“Why kind of contacts?”

“Useful ones. Everyone’s on this, Tony.”

“Ok. Ok. And what…what should we be doing?”

The words made Peter start. He’s never heard Tony sound…lost.

“We’re staying here,” Rhodey assured him. “In case Peter finds his way back. Or in case someone calls with demands.”

“Demands? Like a ransom? No one outside of this Compound even knows about Peter. I’ve kept our relationship out of the press for this exact reason.”

“Not about Peter, maybe, but they certainly know about Spider-Man. They went after Sam just a few weeks ago.”

“That was one guy, and he thought Sam was you. And we caught him. He said he was just looking for an easy payday.”

“Maybe he had friends. Or maybe just a bunch of criminals are getting the same idea. The Avengers aren't exactly putting up a strong front in the publicity arena lately, despite Pepper’s best efforts. Maybe they think our defenses are weak right now, that it’s the right time to try and squeeze some money out of you.”

“That’s a whole lot of maybes.”

“It’s a whole lot of possibilities. And we’re chasing down every one we can think of. Everyone wants Peter back - wants him safe.”

Despite his predicament, the words sent a ray of warmth through Peter. Only a few months ago these people had been his heroes. Now they were his friends. Now they cared about him - _Tony Stark_ cared about him.

And there was the strong possibility that whoever had put Peter down here intended to use that relationship against them.

Peter felt a fresh surge of panic and forced himself to reestablish baseline. _What were the facts? What could he control?_

Facts. Every one of the Avengers was looking for him. In all the wrong places, maybe, but they were looking for him. And if someone had done this to get to Tony like Rhodey had suggested…well, if the intent had been to kill him, they could have done it already, hadn’t they? So maybe it was about ransom, or something else they needed from Tony. And it wasn’t like Peter wanted Tony to give his kidnapper (kidnappers?) anything, but Tony wouldn’t let him just stay down here until…until…

_Until you die of thirst,_ his brain provided, not very helpfully. _Or you run out of oxygen._

_The Avengers won’t let that happen._

_The Avengers have no idea where you are, genius._

“I’m going out.”

Peter felt his heart flutter as he heard footsteps walking right above his head before growing fainter. _No, come back. I’m right here._

“Tony -”

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing!”

“You’re not doing nothing. You’re doing your job. We’re all doing our jobs.”

“Oh yeah? And what exactly is your job, then? Why aren’t you in the sky with Wilson?

“Because my job is what it usually is - stopping you from doing anything stupid.” Peter didn’t hear Tony’s next words, but he did hear Rhodey’s. “And to keep you company until Peter’s home.”

“I don’t need company. I need Pe- I need to be _doing_ something.”

“Ok. Then do something.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do!”

“You and I won’t cover the skies any better than Sam will. The others have the search efforts covered.”

“So what…what should I be doing?”

“What you always do, Tones. The thing no one else can. The thing no one else thinks of.”

Peter heard Tony exhale, long and loud, as though pulling himself together. “Fine.” Then, again, “Fine. F.R.I.D.A.Y.? We’re going to build an algorithm.”

_“What kind of algorithm, Boss?”_

“Let’s start with everyone who’s ever had a grudge against me, or the Avengers in general. Any terrorist organizations who might be looking for a quick buck or the latest and greatest in weapons technology.”

“That’s going to be a long list.”

“I know, Platypus. That’s why we’re going to narrow it down. Fri, filter by any of the above who have been in the country in the last forty-eight hours and have the resources to pull this off. Be generous on that account - let’s not miss our mark by underestimating them.”

_“On it, Boss. Any other parameters?”_

Tony hesitated, then added. “Yeah, actually, you know what? Add any known associates of Adrien Toomes.”

Peter felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up - or at least, attempt to stand up from where they were glued to the floor - at the mention of the name. Toomes couldn’t be behind this, could he? He was in jail.

But he did have access to tech. Or he had, before he was arrested - tech he knew how to use. And he knew who Peter was, most likely knew about his connection to Tony -

_That’s not facts. That’s speculation._

Peter tried to relax, to conserve his air, if his supply was indeed limited. Thinking about Toomes before he knew it _was_ Toomes wasn’t going to help anything.

Although if this was the Vulture, and his plan had been revenge, said plan was working. Peter couldn’t deny it. It was agonizing to hear Tony and Rhodey fret right about his head, wanting nothing more to call out to them that he _down here, right here_ , and not being able to move an inch or make a sound. The closest he could get was inhaling hard in and out through his nose, and that wasn’t nearly loud enough to be heard through the tiles.

_“I’ve prepared a list of possible suspects, Boss.”_

“Narrow it down to those who have been in New York in the past twenty-four hours, then send it to Hill. And run facial recognition through any cameras you can find - traffic cams, security cameras, the works. For anyone on the list and Peter.”

_“Already on it.”_

“That’s my girl. Rhodey, honey, you’re a dear but you’re smothering me. Go do something useful.”

“I’m doing the most useful thing I can.”

_Facts._ F.R.I.D.A.Y., the most advanced A.I. in the world, was searching for whoever did this to him. Surely it wouldn’t be long before she found whoever was behind this, and that person told them where Peter was, and they’d come get him out.

They’d get him out. 

It became a mantra as the hours wore on, as Tony and Rhodey exhausted options above his head, and hunger and thirst started to seep in. He attempted to swallow, difficult as it was with the concrete pressing on his throat and lips, trying to work salvia into his dry mouth. Aclawing sense of claustrophobia kept trying to hijack his logic. But as far as he could tell, the team were working methodically through options, checking people off F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s list as Tony added parameters to the search algorithm.  


They’d get him out.

After what must have been about six hours and that felt like twenty, Tony’s phone rang.

Peter knew it was an unknown number from the way Tony answered, his voice tight. “Who the hell is this?”

The voice that answered was distorted, robotic. _“Missing something, Stark?”_

“Son of a bitch,” Peter heard Rhodey mumble, quickly followed by Tony’s, “Where is he?”  
  
 _“In the last place you’ll ever think to look. Of course, I could always just tell you where your intern is.”_

_Yes, tell Tony where I am._ The thought jumped into Peter’s mind before he could stop it, and he immediately wished he could take it back. Ok, yes, he wanted out of this, but not at the expense of whatever the robot voice on the phone was about to ask his mentor for. 

“Just get it over with,” Tony ordered. “What do you want for him?”

_“I think ten million in cash would be a good start.”_ Peter relaxed, just a tiny bit. He didn’t want Tony to give this guy a single cent, but better they were after that than any of Tony’s weapons technology or information on the Avengers. He had barely finished the thought when the voice added, _“And access to your private server.”_

Because of course it wasn’t just about money.

To his credit, Tony didn’t skip a beat. “Sorry, Hal-3000, no can do. Got a whole bunch of photos on there in me in all kinds of compromising positions, you know? Wouldn’t do to have those leaked to the press and hurt my stellar reputation and all.” There was a falseness to the quippy nature of the words, and Peter figured Tony was putting it on, feigning confidence. “So counteroffer - tell me where the kid is and when either I or one of my teammates find you, it’s a cell instead of the morgue.”

_ “So protective, Stark. But then, he’s more than an intern, isn’t he?” _

Peter felt a stab of panic. Did his kidnappers know he was Spider-Man then? The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. They had had some kind of drug to knock him out. They had known how to contain him, despite his strength. They knew about his connection to Tony.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tony shot back.

_ “You have a rather special connection with him, don’t you? With Peter?” _

“Tony,” he heard Rhodey warn, in a tone that implied _Play this smart._

Either Tony was already doing that, or he took Rhodey’s advice, because his next words were, “Maybe I just don’t like it when the bad guy of the week threatens teenagers who happen to work for me. And we really don’t need any more bad press so yeah, sure, I’d like him back, _unharmed._ But if you know enough about Stark Industries to know that about the high schoolers that get our coffee, then you know we have a strict no ransoms policy.”

_ “Consider this a personal matter, then.” _

“It’s a personal policy as well. Now - where is Peter?”

_ “I’m disappointed, Stark. I’ll call again in an hour, see if you’ve had a change of heart.” _

Then the robotic voice was gone, followed by a string of swearing from the workshop, all of Tony’s faked, calm demeanor gone.

“Tony, calm down -”

“What did I say about telling me to calm down?”  
  
“None of this is helping Peter.”

That got Tony to quiet, his next words low. “I should have seen this coming.”

“You couldn’t have.”

“I could and I _should_ have. The team is weak, and the world knows it, and now those who think they can exploit that are crawling out of the woodwork. The incident with Sam proved it. They thought he was you - it was only fitting they were going to try for Peter next. I should have protected him more.”

Peter felt a swell in his chest that was equal parts affection and annoyance. Because Peter could protect himself, thank you very much. He’d proved that in Siberia. He struggled against the concrete prison. Ok, _most_ of the time he could protect himself.

“I- Shit, Rhodey. _Rhodey.”_

“I’m here, Tones. What do you need?”

“Pepper.”

“Ok, let’s call her.”

“No, Rhodey. Someone went after you, now Peter. What if Pepper’s next?”

“Happy and some of Hill’s agents are with her in a safe-house upstate, just in case.”

There was a beat of silence before Tony answered. “Just in case?”

“Just in case this was about getting to you, we got her somewhere safe. She still insisted on handling all the press for this anyway, even if she had to do it remotely.”

“What press?” 

“In case we wanted to go public. Get Peter’s name and face out there, make it harder for whoever has him to hide him.”

Peter balked at that. He hardly wanted this on national news, not to mention it wasn’t exactly going to make him easier to find, down here. And what if May saw it and -

Oh. Damn. May. Did she even know?

“No - don’t do that. Not yet,” Tony said, and Peter breathed a sigh of relief.

“I agree. But the option is there if we need it. Pepper will have everything ready to go.”

“Thank you, Rhodey.”

“Always.”

“I mean it. I should have thought of moving Pepper somewhere safe earlier. So, thank you.”

“Actually, that wasn’t me. That was Steve.”

There was an even longer silence after that, broken by Rhodey. “We need to decide what to tell the kid’s aunt.”

“I don’t want to freak her out.”

“I think she deserves to know her nephew’s missing, don’t you?”

“Yeah. Yeah, ok, yeah. I’ll…I’ll call her.”  
  
“I can do it.”

“Thanks. But it should be me.”

“This isn’t your fault. You do know that right?”

“I’m going to politely disagree with you there, Platypus.”

“You haven’t done anything _politely_ in your life.”

Peter almost wished that Tony had left the workshop for the phone call with May. He couldn’t hear what his aunt was saying, but Tony’s half of the conversation was more than enough to get across what was happening on May’s end. Tony issued promises and assurances and insistences that May join Pepper at the safe house, for which Peter was grateful. If this was Toomes, then he knew who Peter was. He knew who _May_ was.

“I’ll get him back. I promise.”

May must have raised her voice then, in a way she seldom did, because Peter caught the words as they crackled out of Tony’s phone. _“Like you promised to protect him?”_

The statement was followed by the most awful silence yet, and then words that followed were even worse than that. “I’m sorry, May. I’m really sorry.”

Peter could count on hand the number of times he had heard Tony apologize for _anything_ , and the weariness in his voice made unbidden tears spring into Peter’s eyes. He blinked them away, then felt a new wave of panic as he felt the emotion travel into his nose instead, starting to block it and god, Peter did _not_ want to die by choking on his own snot.

He took two nasally gasps through his nose, willing himself back to calm until his breathing returned to normal. Ok, no crying. Crying was bad.

“What’s on the server?” he heard Rhodey ask.

Tony let out a mirthless laugh. “What’s _not_ on the server?”

“What do you think they’re after, specifically?”

“What they’re always after - weapons. It’s the designs for pretty much all of the Avengers’ gear, everything from our suits to information on Cap’s serum to Nat’s Widow Bites.”

“Not anything we want the other side to have. Anything else? Personal stuff?”

“Like family members? No, I don’t keep records of that anywhere.”

“Anything to do with Barnes?” When Tony didn’t answer, Rhodey pressed him. “Tony. Is there stuff about Barnes on the server?”

“Do you think that’s what they’re after?” Tony’s voice was quiet. “Because…yeah. Yeah, there is.”  
  
“How much?”

“Everything.”

Peter heard Rhodey exhale, long and slow. “Tones -”

“Don’t. I needed to, ok? I needed to.”

Peter had no idea what that meant and tried to focus on the good stuff instead. No personal stuff. That meant nothing about Peter’s identity - nothing about May, or Ned, his school, anything. That was good, right? Not that it mattered; it sounded like Tony was adamant about not giving them access.

“Ok,” Rhodey relented. “Let’s not talk about that now.”

“Let’s not talk about it later, either.”

Rhodey was spared from answering when F.R.I.D.A.Y. interrupted them. _“Boss? I have found a new potential suspect.”_

“Hit me, Fri.”

_“A man by the name of Mac Gargan was sighted within thirty miles of the Compound this morning at 12:58 am.”_

Peter’s ears perked up. Mac Gargan. He knew that name.

“Who is he, Fri?” Rhodey asked.

_“MacDonald ‘Mac’ Gargan, thirty-nine-year-old caucasian male, American, extensive criminal background including homicide. He was released from Midtown Correctional Facility six days ago on a technicality.”_

“A technicality?” Rhodey asked at the same time Tony said, “As in the prison where Toomes where is currently rotting?”

_“There was a piece of mislabeled evidence in his trial, or so the records reflect,”_ F.R.I.D.A.Y. continued. _“And yes, Boss, Gargan was incarcerated in the same institute as Toomes.”_

Breathing was becoming difficult again. Peter forced himself to slow down, counting five for each inhale, five for each exhale, even as it felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest and crack the concrete in two. Gargan had been on the ferry. Gargan knew Toomes. Toomes knew who Peter was. Toomes and Gargan had been in jail together.

“Find him,” Tony was ordering. “Bring him in. Get Natasha and Clint - Sam as well.”

“We don’t know it’s him, Tones,” Rhodey cut in. “Let’s not put all our eggs in that basket just yet.”

“Well, if we catch him before the next phone call, we’ll know, won’t we?”

They didn’t catch him. And at an hour on the dot, Tony’s phone rang a second time. _“Have you reconsidered my offer, Stark?”_

“Both SI and the Avengers have a no ransom policy for a reason,” Tony shot back.

_ “This isn’t an ongoing offer. Eventually, poor little Peter’s going to run out of time.” _

“Ok, listen here you -”

Whatever Tony was about to say was cut off by Rhodey. “We can’t do anything until you give us proof of life. Let us speak to him.”

_ “I’m afraid that’s quite impossible at the moment.” _

“Why?” Tony bit out. “What did you do?”

_ “You don’t think I have the boy with me, do you? I’m not stupid. No, I’ve put him somewhere safe and cozy where you’ll never think to look. And Stark? I didn’t exactly leave him a lunchbox. Ten million in cash, and access to your server or -” _

The voice suddenly cut off, and then Tony was rounding on Rhodey. “What the hell did you hang up on them for?”

“You were about to say something stupid. Don’t argue - you know you were.”

“They said - _”_

“I know. I know, Tones. I heard it too.”

“They’re starving him. They’re going to let him starve.”

“We’ll find him long before that happens.”

“I need to go after Gargan.”

“No, you need to stay right here. The others are on it. In this state, you’ll just get in their way.”

“I need -”

“What you need to do - what Peter needs you to do - is to stay right here. That kid is tough as nails, you know he is. He’ll be holding up ok, wherever he is.”

Peter felt a burst of pride that was quickly replaced with shame. He was _not_ holding up ok, not really. The mention of Gargan was sending his brain into places he really didn’t need it to go right now.

_What are the facts? What can I control?_  


Facts. May was safe. The Avengers were looking for him. And yeah, ok, he was hungry, he was thirsty, but he still had plenty of time before either of those was life-threatening. 

Control. Breathing.

Peter went back to counting his breaths and, when that wasn’t quite enough, he started closing and opening his eyes with each inhales and exhale, his eyelids being the only part of his body he could move. It was so close to nothing, but it was something, and Peter clung to that ounce of control as the hours continued to tick by, until he finally heard the words he’d been waiting for.

“Tones? We got Gargan.”

“Thank Thor and all of Thor’s godly friends. Where is he?”

“Compound holding cell. Natasha’s giving him the works. Won’t be long until he cracks.”

Peter went cold at that. He was wanted to get found, of course, sooner rather than later. Even so, the idea of someone getting tortured because of him…

The sound of Tony’s phone would have made Peter flinch if he could move. It wasn’t another ransom call, was it? Because if they had Gargan in custody, but the kidnapper was still calling, then that meant-

“May. Hi."

Peter’s heart slowed a fraction. Just May calling.

“Um, yeah, we have someone. We don’t know if he’s the one who took Peter, but it looks likely. I don’t know. I’ll let you know as soon as I do. I’m sorry. I will. I’m sorry.”

“Hey. You ok?” Rhodey’s voice was soft, tentative.

“Always.”

“You know you can’t lie to me, right? I’ve been with you through far too much of your bullshit for that.”

“I just…What if it’s not Gargan?”

“Sam and Clint are already back on the streets looking, Steve and Hill are doing everything on their end, and Scott’s sent through a new list of names for us to check next. If it’s someone else, we’ll get them.”

Tony’s reply was a shaky laugh.

“Tony - talk to me. What’s going on in that head?”

“Just…I’m grateful, ok, I am, that everyone is turning the city upside-down for the kid. Really. But what if…”

“What if what?”

“He _vanished_. From his room - from this Compound. And if it’s just some really smart kidnappers that wanted to exploit the fact that we’re not exactly the Brady Bunch right now, I can deal with that. Probably not all that well, but I can deal with it. But the things we’ve seen, Rhodey. What if it’s something bigger?”

“Bigger how?”

“I’ve flown through a wormhole in space and fought alien armies with a guy in a cape from another planet with a magic hammer.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“What it’s something we don’t understand? Just the idea that it could be anything from alien abduction to a wormhole to, I don’t know, magic? What Wanda can do is basically magic; we deal with magic now. And I’m just a man in a can. How am I supposed to bring him back from that? Protect him from that?”

“By being on a team of people who know how to deal with that stuff. Which you _are._ You don’t have to do everything yourself anymore. You don’t need to focus on all the options, or come up with all the solutions here. We have people around us who will know more about that stuff than we ever will - or need to.”

“That’s…terrifying.”

“I know you feel the need to have as much control as you can, especially around Peter’s safety, but you’re going to burn yourself into the ground if you keep trying to carry that much weight yourself.”

“No one else going to carry it. The Accords proved that.”

“Everyone is here. Everyone is looking. What does that prove?”

“I’m…not sure.”

“It’ll come to you. Do you promise not to do anything stupid if I go find us something to eat?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Well, I am. So don’t move your ass out of this lab while I’m gone.”

“Or what?”

“I’ll tell Pepper about the peanut butter incident.”

“You _wouldn’t.”_

“Oh, I would. Don’t. Move.”

Footsteps crossed the workshop, followed by the sound of the door opening and closing, and then the workshop was silent except for the sounds of Tony occasionally moving around or asking F.R.I.D.A.Y. a question. It was surreal, to have his mentor desperately searching for him barely a foot above Peter’s head.

_I’m down here,_ Peter thought, as though he could push the words straight into Tony’s brain. _I’m right here._

_“Boss? Director Hill is calling.”_

“Put her on.”

_ “Tony? We have news about Gargan. It’s not him.” _

The words were followed by a heavy pause, and Peter’s heart was beating so loudly that he almost missed Tony’s next words. “What do you mean? What does that mean?”

_ “Gargan didn’t take Peter. He deals in weapons; he was scoping us out. He has no idea who Peter even is.” _

Peter’s brow furrowed. Hadn’t Gargan been in the same prison as Toomes? Peter was sure Toomes would have told his former associate Peter’s name the moment he could.

“He’s lying.”

_ “Tony. It was Natasha doing the questioning. She’s sure. It’s not him. Tony?” _

“I’ll call you back. Hang up, Fri.”

The first ragged breath was barely out of Tony’s most before Peter cottoned on to what was happening. Anxiety attack. His own lungs constricted in sympathy as he heard Tony start to gasp desperately above him, a thud indicating he’d hit the floor, somewhere right above Peter’s chest.

Tears threatened themselves again. Peter fought them off, knowing he had to keep his own breathing even and his nose unclogged, even as his heart cracked hearing Tony unable to breathe right above him, _because_ of him, and not being able to do a damn thing about it.

Then the sound of the workshop door opening and Rhodey’s voice. “Tony? Tony!”

There was a clatter of something being dropped and the heavy footsteps of Rhodey’s braced legs sprinting across the workshop, followed by a loud thump as he collapsed to his knees. “Come on, take my hand. You need to breathe. Breathe, Tones, come on.”

“It wasn’t…It wasn’t…”

“Sh, hey, it’s ok”

“It wasn’t Gargan.”

There was a nasty silence, before Rhodey continued in the same calm tone. “Ok. We’ll keep looking.”

And they did. Peter hung on every word as the two men milled about the workshop, right above him, going through endless possibilities. Every so often, they would be joined by another Avenger, either in person or via phone, but the news was always the same. No updates. They had no idea who had taken Peter, or where they had stashed him.

Peter knew that later (if there was a later), he was going to appreciate this. To hear his heroes - friends - searching so adamantly for him, assuring Tony that they weren’t giving up, that they were going to find him, no matter what. And, ok, he was sure they’d be doing this for anyone, Avenger or not - it was kind of part of the whole hero description thing - but they were doing it for him.

But for right now, all he could focus on was the growing claustrophobia, the panic that was becoming more and more of a struggle to keep at bay, and the ever-growing sensations of thirst and hunger plaguing his body. It had no idea how long it had been since he woke up down here, but he knew it had been hours, maybe even a whole day, and he wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take.

Hours after Tony’s panic attack, the engineer’s phone rang, and Peter somehow knew in his gut that this time it wasn’t May or an Avenger calling with an update.

“Hey,” Rhodey’s voice came before Tony could answer the phone. “Maybe I should handle this one.”

“What if I just -”

“You can’t. You know you can’t.”

“Not the server. I know. But the money -”

“No.”

“If I offer them double what they wanted -”

“No ransoms policy, remember?”

“It’s _Peter._ ”

“I know, ok? I want him back too. But you put that policy in place for a reason.”

“Money can be tracked, especially that amount in cash. Or we could use it to lure them out, and then-”

“You give them that amount of cash, you lose your leverage over them, server or not. Paying up doesn’t guarantee they’ll give Peter back, you know that.”

Peter felt his heart skip a beat. Because even though he didn’t want Tony to give his kidnapper any amount of money, the idea that Tony could pay it and the voice on the phone still wouldn’t tell him where Peter was -

Rhodey was still talking. “Even if it worked, even if everything went smoothly and we caught the guys and got Peter back, word would get out that you paid. It wouldn’t matter how hard we worked to conceal it, someone somewhere would get wind of it. Then you’re painting a target on the kid’s back for the rest of his life. There will always be some idiot out there who will think that, if they get their hands on him, you’ll cave and pay out.”

The phone was still ringing, loud and insistent.

“Look, I know this is hard. I do. It’s hard for me too - you know there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for that kid. But even though it might sound counterintuitive, the best thing you can do for Peter is to hold out. Alright?”

It took three more rings of the phone before Tony agreed, sounding exhausted and beaten. “Alright. Maybe…maybe you should take this one.”

The phone stopped ringing a moment later, quickly followed by Rhodey’s voice. “Where is Peter?”

_ “Where’s my money?” _

“You’re not getting it,” Rhodey insisted. “You haven’t even given us any evidence that Peter is still alive.”

Peter heard Tony’s breath catch at that.

_“He’s alive,”_ the voice assured them. _“Probably wishing he had a sandwich right about now though.”_

There were a crash and a thud that Peter would have bet his suit was Tony breaking something expensive. Rhodey continued as though nothing had happened. “But that said, we can negotiate.”

Negotiate? But Rhodey had just said -

“Turn yourself in, tell us where Peter is, and we can talk about reduced jail time. Maybe you’ll get a state prison instead of the Raft. You do know what the Raft is, right? Because if you continue this any further, that’s where you’re going - forever. But if you give us Peter now, you can still avoid that.”

The words were met with a harsh bark of laughter. _“That’s the best you could come up with? You’d have to catch me. Lock me away. And that’s literally impossible.”_

“This is a one-time offer,” Rhodey continued, still calm. “After that - all bets are off. You’ll be sentenced to a lifetime in the Raft, if you even survive us taking you in, which I can’t promise you will.”

_ “Put Stark on the phone.” _

“You’re talking with me and me only,” Rhodey replied.

_ “What? Because Stark is breaking? Already?” _

Another crash.

_ “It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours yet. But as you don’t seem very keen on finding your intern, why don’t we up the stakes?” _

Peter squeezed his eyes shut, fighting to control his breath. There was no way they could possibly make this worse, right?

It turned out they could.

_“I’m getting tired of going in circles,”_ the voice sighed. _“And I know Stark is in the room. Are you listening, Stark? For Peter’s sake, you better be.”_

A pause. Then, “Yeah. I’m listening.”

_ “This is your last chance. Grant me access to your server and prepare the cash, or I’m hanging up - for good - and I’m going to leave the kid to rot. Literally. Maybe you’d find him then, but not before.” _

The silence above Peter’s head was so absolute that he was sure that Tony and Rhodey would hear his harsh breathing, his heart pounding, that it would echo right up through the floorboards.

“I…”

Peter didn’t open his eyes, because in all the months he’d known Tony, he’d never heard him sound unsure, and he’d heard it more times today than he could count. Tony always seemed to have a plan, to be three steps ahead of everyone. Now, he sounded totally lost.

“You can’t, Tony. Remember what we discussed. I know it feels like you’re abandoning Peter to say no, but agreeing to this is literally the worst thing you can do for him, you _know_ that.”

_ “Tick tock, Stark. Ten seconds, then it’s goodbye from me and little Peter forever. Ten…” _

“You know you can’t, Tony.”

_ “Nine…eight…” _

“Rhodey -”

_ “Seven…six…” _

“I need you to trust me. To trust the team.”

_ “Five…four…” _

“I can't trust...I don’t know what...I don't _know,_ Rhodey."

_“Three…”_

“You do know. I know it’s hard, but this is the right thing to do.”

_ “Two…” _

“Ok. Alright. I trust you.”

And Tony hung up before the voice could get to one.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been three days, and Peter hadn’t known it was possible to feel this hungry.

It had taken a while for the true hopelessness of his situation to sink in. Tony had sounded so sure when he hung up on the kidnapper that it was the right thing to do and, at the time, Peter had agreed. He still agreed, when he forced himself to think logically about it. He didn’t want whoever was after Tony’s money or his weapons or the Avengers’ secrets to get what they wanted. He didn’t want to have a target on him for life just because Tony gave in to a ransom demand one time. The whole reason he kept Spider-Man under wraps was to protect those close to him. He didn’t need another thing bringing danger around May or Ned or MJ.

But as the hours wore on, as his stomach started to feel like it was eating itself, as breathing became slowly but surely harder, thinking logically was becoming increasingly difficult. There were even moments when Peter wished for the kidnapper to call back, to give Tony one more chance and for Tony to take it. Then he would correct himself, remind himself that it wouldn’t have helped.

_It might have,_ a tiny voice started in his ear. _It might have worked and you’d be free by now._

_Doesn’t matter. Wrong._

_You’re going to starve down here._

Well, that was just incorrect. He’d die of thirst, not hunger, so take that stupid negative voice in his head. Probably. His enhanced metabolism, which helped with so many other things, was slowly killing him now.

_You’re dying._

_They’ll find me._

_No one is going to find you. Ever. You’ll just vanish. No one will even know what happened to you._

_Wrong again,_ Peter shot back. _Even if I died, they’d find me. Eventually. The smell would -_

He’d held out for days, but the image of Tony pulling up the floorboards to find Peter’s decomposing corpse was enough to push him into the teetering panic attack.

Even as it started, the logical part of his mind told him to break it off; he did _not_ have the energy or the air supply to be panicking. Then the mental image of his own rotting face sprung back into his mind and there was nothing he could do as he fought to pull air into his already restricted lungs.

“Peter.”

The voice came to him through the floorboards and made him pause. Tony? Was Tony… _talking_ to him? Had Tony figured out where he was?

“Sorry, bud. I know…I know it’s been a while. But I’m coming, ok?”

Peter’s breath caught, even as his brain caught up to what he was hearing. Not talking to him. Just talking. And then…not talking at all.

For a moment, Peter thought that Tony had left, loneliness flooding him even as he focused on making his exhausted lungs work. Tony had barely been out of the workshop the entire time Peter had been missing, running exhaustive searches through F.R.I.D.A.Y. and checking in with the others. Every so often he would announce that he had enough, that he was putting on the suit and searching for Peter himself. Every time, Rhodey would talk him down and insist that the best thing he could do was continue his work through F.R.I.D.A.Y. and be the Avengers’ anchor at the Compound while they combed the streets for Peter. The idea that Peter had been taken out of the State or even the country by now had been floated, and Tony had cursed but updated F.R.I.D.A.Y.’s search algorithms accordingly. Every time Tony broadened his search, Peter’s hopes of being found dipped a bit more. _I’m here,_ he wanted to scream at him. _I’m right here._

The silence was awful; worse even than hearing them move their search further and further away from him, worse than hearing Tony coming apart at the seams as the days stretched on. At least he hadn’t been completely alone. He hadn’t realized how much he had counted on Tony’s constant voice for sanity.

Then - 

A sound. A sharp intake of breath from above him. Then another, stilted, as though Tony was struggling to breathe as well.

Peter couldn’t describe why hearing Tony having a second panic attack brought him out of his own. It was as though one of them to be strong, and if Tony needed to put that mantle down for a moment, Peter could pick it up.

Then a new sound. Peter would have frowned if he could because this didn’t sound like a panic attack after all. If anything, it sounded like - 

Crying. Tony was crying. Soft, muted noises, like he was trying to stifle the tears even as they came.

The sound hurt more than the hunger or the thirst or the helplessness did. Peter had _never_ heard Tony cry, not even once. He had seen Tony _upset_ , of course he had, the man was only human after all, but Tony’s reactions had always been limited to a snarky response or a quick deflection with an excuse to leave the room.

For the first time, Peter was glad that Tony had no idea he was in the room with him. The moment was so intimately private that he felt like a trespasser, and it was with a great wave of relief that he heard the workshop door open again, expecting to hear Rhodey’s voice.

But the next words didn’t come from Rhodey. “Tony?”

“You haven’t heard of knocking, Rogers?”

Steve didn’t apologize. “Where’s Rhodey?”

“I sent him on off on a break. He still needs a fair amount of physio, and he’s skipped three days already.” 

_Three_ _days_. That negative voice was back, whispering that he probably wouldn’t make it to a fourth, not with the way his metabolism was eating through his body. He shut it out, focussing on Steve and Tony’s conversation instead.

“You think of taking a break yourself?”

Peter could almost feel the withering look Tony would be sending Steve’s way. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”

“I mean it. You’re exhausted. You haven’t slept, haven’t eaten -”

“Yeah, well, there’s a high chance Peter hasn’t eaten either if our lovely phone friend was being serious about that.”

Peter’s stomach grumbled so loudly just then that he was surprised that Steve’s superhearing didn’t pick up on it.

Steve didn’t push after that. Peter could picture the scene upstairs, Tony’s red-rimmed eyes, daring Steve to comment on them. Instead, Steve said, “How can I help?”

“Not by wasting time by trying to convince me to take a break.”

“We’ll find him.” When he didn’t reply, Steve repeated, “We’ll find him.”

“I’m not -” Tony’s voice broke, and then there were footsteps hastening across the workshop, as Steve went to Tony’s side. “There’s just…so much.”

“I know.”

“It could be anything. Literally _anything._ Magic or aliens or something I haven’t even thought of yet because that’s the kind of world we live in now. Some kidnapper on the phone wanting cash? I could deal with that. But now Peter’s just gone and I don’t…I don’t know…”

“It’s not just on you, you know that. The world’s a lot more complicated now, sure, but we have the allies to deal with it, magic or aliens or whatever else it could be, ok? It’s not all on you.”

“You sound like Rhodey.”

“Rhodey’s a smart man.”

“Hm. Hey, um, thank you. For getting Pepper somewhere safe.”

“You don’t need to thank me for that. Are you two…”

“Strictly business.”

“I don’t think Pepper sees it that way.”

“Right, because you’d know.” There was an ugly pause after that, Steve not rising to the bait, Tony not taking it back, changing tacts instead. “She stuck it out for long enough. First as my assistant, and then more. She’s done her duty.”

“That’s not -” Steve broke off, frustrated. Peter was on the same page there. He’d only met Pepper a few times, but it was enough to know that she didn’t review her relationship with Tony, romantic or otherwise, as anything close to ‘duty’. “You started dating after Afghanistan, right?”

“Not straight away. I wanted to but she held out. Smart woman.” Peter could Tony busying himself as he talked, the clinks of spare material being moved around on a workbench. “Perfect woman,” he continued, voice so low that Peter almost missed the words. “Under my nose for years, and I was too busy focusing on ‘bigger’ and ‘better’ to see her.”

“It’s not too late.”

“Did you come here to talk about my love life?”

“No, I came to keep you company.”

“I’m good.”

“Don’t snap at me for this - but you’re not. And we don’t expect you to be.”

There was the longest silence between them yet, filled only with the chink of Tony fiddling, Steve’s breathing as he waited patiently. Tony broke it. “I hung up on Peter’s kidnapper.”

“I know.”

“You think it was wrong.”

“I understand your reasons for doing it."

Peter heard Tony huff, then footsteps, putting distance between him and Steve. “No ransoms policy.”

“We know. We all agreed to that.”

“Mm.”

“We’ll find him.”

Yet another long silence. Peter wondered if Tony was waiting for Steve to leave. He didn’t.

“My father had the same policy, you know.”

“I didn’t.”

“No ransoms, no exceptions.”

“Were you…”

“Oh yeah.”

Tony was moving again, and Peter strained his ears to catch Steve’s next words, spoken low and cautious. “He didn’t pay for you back.”

“Nope.” Tony popped the ‘p’, feigning casual.

“How old?”

“The first time?"

“Wait, how many times -”

“Six.”

_“Six times?”_

“Six years old. The first time.”

Six years old? Tony had been kidnapped when he was _six years old._ That was…messed up.

“I get it,” Tony went on. “You pay once, every Tom, Dick and Idiot is after you for life. I get the logic.”

“But…”

“Six-year-old Tony didn’t. He just wanted to go home and didn’t understand why his dad wouldn’t let him.”

Peter waited impatiently for either of the two men to speak again, for Tony to get to the point.

“Tony…”

“What if he heard me hang up on him?”

“Peter isn’t six. And you’re not Howard.”

Tony ignored that second statement. “The kid doesn’t know about our no ransoms policy or why we have it. All he heard was me refusing to pay and hanging up on whoever abducted him.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Stop telling me what I don’t know!” There was a crash followed by a, “Sorry. Just…”

“It’s ok. Why don’t you sit down?”

Tony did the opposite, starting to pace again, every tenth step landing right above Peter’s head. “If only I knew _more_. Maybe I could program F.R.I.D.A.Y. to pick up magic traces…if I could get ahold of Wanda…or Vision might be easier, we’re still assuming they’re off in Romeo and Juliet town, yeah?”  
  
“I understood that reference.”

“Or on Thor’s next visit I could get some data, if he’s ever going to let me near anything Asgardian again after Ultron…though that would be more Bruce’s area.” Tony cut off abruptly after he said Bruce’s name, as did the footsteps.

“I really think you should sit down.”

After a few seconds, there was a scrape of a chair. “I’m doing this because my feet hurt, not because you told me to.”

“Duly noted.”

A second scrape as Steve sat too. “You know all this stuff about magic and aliens…it throws me too. “

“You’re not me.”

“Yeah, and you’re not _me_. It’s not always…It’s not easy, trying to lead when it feels like your team knows so much more than you do. I was struggling to get used to microwaves and portable phones and then aliens and Norse gods dropped out of the sky.”

“Yeah. That would have been rough.” Tony seemed to weigh his next words before he said them. “Don’t go weird on me when I say this.” 

Steve’s tone was hesitant. “Ok?”  
  
“Just…I know I gave you a bit of a hard time. When you got defrosted, and all that.”

“A _bit_ of a hard time?”

“Ok, yeah, a very hard time. But stepping into a world that feels like it’s a hundred miles ahead of you at all times, and trying to keep up with it…well, like you said. It’s not easy.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Any advice on that front?”

Steve considered “I guess I found good people who helped me through it. I focussed on what I could find that was familiar first. Which there wasn’t a lot of, but then…this team. The mission. That was familiar enough to get me through. Mostly. And remembering that yes, there are the big threats out there we don’t understand, but there are plenty we do. People can be just as destructive as monsters, sometimes even more so. Look at all the people you’ve fought. Stane, Vanko, Killian…”

“Zemo.”

“Yes. Zemo. He was just a man and he might have done more damage than the rest put together if not for -”

“If not for Peter. We owe that kid our lives, you know.”

“I do.”

“We’d be frozen corpses in Siberia if it weren’t for him.”

“Yeah, he told me how he turned himself over to Zemo. That was brave. Tony?” When Tony still didn’t speak for several seconds, he pushed. “Tony? Talk to me.”

“Sorry, just…nope not the time.”

“Not the time for what? Tony?”

“Shut up.”

“Excuse me?”

“Rogers, I mean it - shut up.” Footsteps filled the lab again, quick and hurried.

“Tony -”

“Shut it or get out. I’m having thoughts.  Zemo was just a man.”

“Yes?”

“A _man._ Not an alien, not magic, not even a supervillain. Just a man with a plan who knew our weaknesses. Who knew how we think - how we would react.”

“What are you getting at?

The door to the workshop whooshed open again, then Rhodey’s voice joined the other two. “Hey, what’s -”

“Honeybear, I love you, but if you don’t shut your mouth I’m going to lose it.” The footsteps got even faster, as Tony muttered frantically to himself. Finally, he stopped, taking a deep breath, as Peter strained his ears. _Please. Please let this be the plan that works. Please find me._

“I’ve been going about this wrong. All wrong. F.R.I.D.A.Y? Shut down the algorithms.”

“Tony -” Rhodey warned, and Peter agreed. Shut down the algorithms looking for him? Ok, he knew they weren’t going to find him, but even so - 

Tony was on a roll now. “All wrong,” he said, yet again. “I’ve been thinking too big. Aliens, and magic, and other dimensions, and things I can’t or, let’s face it, will never really understand - not enough to make a difference, anyway.”

“Tony,” Steve cut in. “Clue us in?”

“It could anything. _Anything._ But you’re right - that’s not my area. But bad guys who want money and weapons? That’s something I know. And what I know is that, eventually, they make mistakes. They slip up. The Ten Rings did it, AIM did it - I bet you whoever took Peter did as well. Because they were overconfident. Because they know how we think.”

“Ok?” Steve prompted.

“The kidnapper said he put Peter somewhere we’d never think to look. At the time I thought that might mean somewhere magical or alien but what if it’s not as complicated as that? What if they expected us to go big like we always do, like _I a_ lways do? When really we need to go small. We need to look around us first.”

Peter’s heart was racing. _Please have figured it out. Please, Tony_. 

“Tony,” Steve said softly. “They could have meant anything when they said that. A safe house or -”

“No, Tony’s right,” Rhodey cut in. “Something in the way they said it. They were…gloating.”

“ _I’m going to leave the kid to rot,_ ” Tony quoted, and Peter balked at the words in his mentor’s mouth. “ _Maybe you’d find him then, but not before._ So if he…”

It seemed Tony couldn’t say the words, so Steve filled them in for him. “So we’d find Peter if he, um, rotted.”

The image of Tony finding his corpse filled Peter’s head again and he pushed back on the wave of nausea which sent painful pangs through his empty stomach. It sounded like Tony was so close, so damn close to figuring it out that it hurt, every second feeling like an eternity because he was so close, so close. Or at least Peter hoped he was. He really couldn’t afford to wait much longer for them to find him.

“But not before,” Tony added. “Why? Why would they say that? _How could he have left the Compound without leaving the Compound?”_

Rhodey seemed to cotton on a split second before Steve did, because Steve let out a sharp exhale as Rhodey said, “Because he never left.”

_Please. Please find me. I’m right here._

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.!” Tony barked. “I need you to run a heat scan throughout the entire Compound. Find me anyone who can’t be accounted for.”

_Yes! Please, I’m here, please -_

_“All life scans in the building are accounted for, Boss.”_

“No,” Tony stated. “Nope, that’s not right. I’m right. Peter is here. He’s here. He has to be here.”

“Tony -”

“Not now, Rogers.”

“Tony! We’d find him if he rotted. We’d smell him. He’s -”

“He’s in the floor,” Tony breathed. “Fuck, Cap, he’s in - F.R.I.D.A.Y.! Extend the heat signature to below the Compound as well. And get everyone back here, _now,_ and prep the med bay. _”_

_“On it, Boss.”_

_Please. Please. Please._

“ _I have located one heat signature that appears to below the Compound, in the foundations.”_

Whatever F.R.I.D.A.Y. showed the men upstairs was met with shocked silence.

Tony spoke first. “No. No, that’s not…no. _No_ -”

Then footsteps increasing in volume until they were right about their heads and “F.R.I.D.A.Y, let Cho know we’re out our way to med-bay. Tony, Rhodey - help me!”

The tearing up of floor tiles was the most beautiful sound Peter had ever heard, but it was nothing compared to the first gust of fresh air he’d had in days. He gulped it through his nostrils even as the light blinded his enhanced eyes, tears stinging his cheeks even before there was a warm hand pressed there. “Peter? Oh my god, Peter, what the fuck did they do? Hold on, kid, we’re going to you get out of that. Can you…can you open your eyes for me? Can you do that? Please?”

Peter couldn’t, he really couldn’t, it hurt too much, but he heard Steve’s voice, low and gentle. “The light, Tony.”

“The what? Oh, shit. Shit. Ok. Hold on.”

Then the hand on his cheek was pressed over his eyes instead. “Better?” 

Peter had no way of answering, but he tried to affirm yes by slowing down his breathing, making it calmer. It seemed to work, because the hand stayed put.

“How do I even…F.R.I.D.A.Y., how do I dissolve concrete off human skin? Or, enhanced human skin?”

“Can’t I just -”

“You can’t pull him out, Steve," Rhodey interrupted. "Not without hurting him.”

Peter didn’t even care at that point if Steve broke every bone in his body if he meant he could move and speak and, god, _drink_ something.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.?” Rhodey was saying. “Contact Ms Parker, tell her we found her nephew. Get her back here.”

_No,_ Peter thought. _They had found him, but not his kidnapper. It wasn’t safe._

“I’m sorry,” Tony was whispering in Peter’s ear. “I’m so sorry, kid.”

He went on like that, even as it made Peter’s skin crawl, wishing he could tell him to stop, that it wasn’t his fault. His brain was blurred from thirst and hunger and the sensory overload creeping up on him. Tony seemed to catch on to that last one at least, because a few minutes after the tiles and been released, a pair of headphones was slipped over his ears and a set of dark glasses placed over his eyes. Peter was grateful that neither canceled out all sound or sight - he didn’t think he could bear not being able to move, speak _or_ hear or see. He didn’t think he could imagine anything worse. 

They started to chip and slop the concrete off, starting with his mouth. The second his lips were free, a straw was being placed between his lips, encouraging him to take slow slips as they freed the rest of him. He didn’t know how long that took, as he passed out with Tony’s hand still next to his cheek, still whispering apologies.

***

“So you don’t know who did it?”

It had been over twenty-four hours, but Dr Cho had insisted on keeping Peter in the Compound med bay for observation for at least seventy-two. That, combined with the fact that Tony had instructed that at least two Avengers be with him at all times, had Peter feeling more than a little smothered by this point. At least he - or, more exactly, Steve - had convinced May to remain in the safe house until whoever had kidnapped Peter had been caught. Steve had assured him that it was very unlikely that someone would go after her, but he seemed to understand that even a small risk was too much.

At the moment, it was Tony and Rhodey keeping watch by his bedside. Tony had been an almost permanent fixture, until the morning of the third day when Natasha had shown up to kick him out, insisting he at least shower as she had taken his seat and produced a pack of playing cards.

She had won every hand.

“No,” Tony replied. “But we will.” He looked slightly better for the forced rest, although the shadows under his eyes seemed to be permanent fixtures these days.

“Everyone’s looking,” Rhodey added. “New S.H.I.E.L.D. and Scott’s crew included."

"And you don't know..." Peter swallowed, remembering waking up to that figure leaning over him. "How they did it?"

Tony's expression turned guilty, but Rhodey answered before he could. "We’ll figure out what happened.” His phone buzzed, and he glanced down at it. “I have to take this. Don’t get kidnapped while I’m gone.”

“I’ll try,” Tony and Peter said in unison.

When Rhodey was out the door, Peter heard him answer the phone, heard two words of a telemarketer’s voice, and then Rhodey hanging up. He didn’t reenter the room, and Peter took the hint.

“Um, Mr Stark?”

“Call me Tony or I’ll insist you stay here another week.”

“Fine. Um, Tony. I just wanted to say…” He swallowed. They hadn’t had a chance to talk about this yet - there had always been someone else present. And while there was a part of Peter who really _didn’t_ want to talk about this, that knew it would be much easier to pretend it had never happened, he had witnessed over the past months what happened when teammates didn’t talk things out. “Thanks for not paying the person who took me.”

Tony went very still at that. “You heard that.”

“I kind of heard everything.” Peter blushed, remembering listening to Tony cry, how intrusive that had felt. “But I just…I wouldn’t want you to give someone money or weapons or anything even if it meant that, um, something really bad happened to me.”

“That shouldn’t be -” Tony ran his fingers through his hair, still damp from the shower. “You shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place. I should have done more.”

“You did everything you could. I heard everything, remember? I know how hard you tried - how hard everyone tried. You were all…all of you looked for me.”

“Of course we did, kid.”

“Maybe when Dr Cho says I can go, I can thank everyone, somehow? I don’t really have anything to give but -”

“Kid. Listen.” Tony leaned forward in his chair. “You don’t need to say thank you. If you’re in trouble, we’re going to come get you, alright? _I’m_ going to come get you. Every time.”

“Ok,” Peter replied, his voice small. “Thanks Mr - Thanks, Tony. And…I’m really sorry. That, um, your dad didn’t do that for you. That’s messed up.”

Peter knew he had overstepped the moment he said it, even as Tony tried to brush it off. “He had good reasons. You pay once, every bad guy on the planet tries it on. He was protecting me in the long run. I know that now.”

Peter recalled Steve’s words. Sure, adult Tony Stark knew that. He doubted six-year-old Tony had. “Still messed up,” Peter insisted. “You deserved better than that. _Deserve_ better than that.”

Tony was already reaching for his phone, and Peter recognized it for the shield it was, but Tony paused with it halfway out of his pocket, before he slid it back and said instead, “Thanks, kid.”

Peter shifted in his bed, as the door opened, and Rhodey reentered, and Peter knew immediately that something was wrong.

Tony seemed to know too, already rising out of his chair. “Tell me.”

“It’s Gargan,” Rhodey answered. “He’s gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Whumptoberverse continues in [A Quiet Place](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26621827/chapters/64912900)
> 
> And yes there will be answers for who put Peter down there and why ;)
> 
> This got away from me a bit as a Tony & Rhodey fic, but you can check out my Tony & Rhodey MIT fic [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23392477/chapters/56057179).

**Author's Note:**

> Come scream at me on [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/jinxquickfoot), especially if you also write fanfic or do fanart! Share your work with me!
> 
> If you're liking the work I'm putting out on Ao3 and want to support me as creator elsewhere, it would mean the world to me if you were to check out my writing podcast 'Kill the Cat', which is available on [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ypaen3yM5Q&t=1s&ab_channel=KilltheCatPodcast), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/5hCprc9UCBZP4srFrBXKT1?si=VeMJEMn8SXOm2FiRCNkN0g), or anywhere you listen to podcasts and hit that subscribe button, or my web series 'Codependent' which can be viewed/subscribed to [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_EF7OOOYPU&list=PL-sJO_AxBYjddRzm1Q6F9Wb99ea_R2ju1&index=2&ab_channel=CatSole).
> 
> And hey. You have a cool style.


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